Current Watch: Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association: "Whistle Blowers spanning over a decade finally achieve victory in Glenwood Springs, Colorado"

On September 2nd, 2010, the Glenwood Springs City Council authorized the seating of nine individuals, who will now make up the first tourism oversight board in the history of Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

While very disappointing to see that back-door politics have allowed three Chamber of Commerce seats to be held instead of ordinance required one seat.  To see three directly associated tourism industry seats to be held instead of ordinance required two seats.

While very encouraging to see two seats held by common citizens who are strong enough individuals to lend balance to the board.

The undeniable fact, that never again,  will there be any ability for zero transparency and accountability to the largest tax generated revenue base in the County of Garfield and the City of Glenwood Springs; is a victory that belongs to six women spanning the years of 1998-2010.

Tourism Business Representatives and Chamber of Commerce Board Member:
Steve Beckley
Ken Murphy (current Chamber Board of Directors)

Lodging Representatives:
John Bosco (Hot Springs Pool)
Peter Tijm (current Chamber Board of Directors)

Chamber Representative:
Carl Moak (current Chamber Board of Directors)

Citizen Representatives and current previous Tourism Board member:
Ian Exelberg (moves from long held seat on disbanded tourism board to new board)
Scott Hemmen
Don Gillespie
Judith Wilson

Collectively here at safeplace, we feel the chosen mix on the board will encounter a tougher road in attempting to bridge the chasm of the two factions that make up small business in the 81601 zip code.   This was a critical time to make appropriate choices that hold up under scrutiny. 

All on this board are good people.  It is the imbalance of weight in the carry-over of proven eyes that refused to see, proven ears that tuned out and proven courage that could not withstand coming under fire that will ultimately be the burden of the community to continue to carry. 

We also remain feeling that the small businesses and common citizens on the side of the rift that ultimately bears that burden are no longer at disadvantage.  The field is leveled now.   It just may take more time than your wishes shared with us hoped for.

In what started out as one voice almost twelve years ago, that raised collectively to global watch-dog attention today; the voices of the small have locked in awareness. 

When one believes in the power of good people unafraid to use the front door instead of the back, ultimately the good people win.

Good wishes, from the avatars of smalltown7 as this historic new board steps up.

Current Watch: Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association: "City council prepares to seat new tourism oversight and promotion board"

And their up!


Names of the candidates for Glenwood Springs historic new tourism promotion and oversight board are released:


Two of the following from tourism-related businesses:
Steve Beckley
Ian Exelbert
John Bosco
Trent Blizzard
Ken Murphy
Rob Jankovsky
John Zalinski

Two of the following representatives from lodging:
William Knapp
Peter Tijm

One from the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association:
Carl Moak

Four from the common man category:
Cindy Svatos
Don Gillespie
John Duven
Scott Hemmen
Judith Wilson
Darron Cloud

smalltown7 recommends the following:

From the common man category:
John Duven, Scott Hemmen, Darren Cloud. We also give a very special nod to former whistle blower on the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association. Cindy Svatos came forward, with two other employees in the 2005 era of whistles. Cindy has played a part in bringing about this long awaited change of oversight, accountability and control to Glenwood Springs.

Lodging and the chamber are chosen simply by the numbers. We feel lodging is very well represented and we believe Carl has a great deal of experience he can bring to the board that has potential to make the transition in ease.

Tourism sector:
Ken Murphy and Trent Blizzard.   Glenwood Springs, for better or worse, is currently entrenched in viral marketing. All eggs pretty much in one basket. A double edged sword that has put us, when it's used effectively, into the world class destination resorts category.  Trent Blizzard helped create that viral juggernaut, we need him to help us keep what is good and eliminate what is not. Trent is also a good business man who cares deeply about all sectors of small business in our community. Ken Murphy, in our eyes, is the only tourism sector candidate strong enough to usher out an old era. Ken also has the potential to ring in a new one with calm, steady support and a wealth of experience. Ken is also a fair guy with a backbone. He has good potential to be the glue that meshes all sides into the best promotional team Glenwood Springs has ever seen.

smalltown7 give good wishes to our city council as they prepare to seat this historic board.

At this time, the latest announcement from safeplace is that Commissioner John Martin, Councilman Leo McKinney and Jeff Hecksel, City Manager were spoken to, via email, by smalltown on Sunday, the 29th of August.

In our email, we brought both city and county up to speed on where we are at with the Current Watch on the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.  

Yes, we retained your anonymity as that is our word to you, but we did share your ongoing concerns.

We also lent clarity to what we support and what we will remain not supporting.

One of the areas we will remain supporting until we can see how strong the new board truly is, shall be the Current Watch on the chamber. smalltown7 stands on our position spoken here a few months ago that the time has come to cut off the past and move on to the future here in Glenwood Springs.
Never has that been more clear than seeing the release of the disappointing revenue numbers over the past year. Where the new board will look to promoting the future and gaining control over what is left from the past; our concern, along with many other citizens, is what appears on the surface to be missing.   There are some gaping holes that potentially add up to a lot of dollars that could be in tourism promotion for the future.   Bottom line is that until we know, we cannot as a community move fully forward.  We also must meet our obligation to you.  Our decision is to continue the same pace we have had over the past 3 months or so.  It seems to be working.

Yes, we were straight up in expressing what you have expressed to us.  We tried to cover as many appropriate bases as we could without running the risk of alienation. 

At this time, we say to the folks that you now have security in controls over the future and it may be a wise time for diplomacy within reason.

So far, our officials have not given any consideration whatsoever for laying the concerns of the people to rest.

Transparency is easy.

Such resistance is worrisome. Especially when that resistance spans decades and millions of dollars in public revenues.

Our email on Sunday reiterated what some already knew. We want nothing more than to be proven wrong.

We spoke again of our belief that now that control of funds and power is in place with the city ultimately in charge; ours is a quiet watch. At least as quiet as the high global exposure and credibility we have earned here at safeplace can make it.  We hope that very soon, we can go dark on the Current Watch on the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association.

We spoke at length of our support  of both city and county and how pleased we are for the future aims.

We also spoke of our disappointment that such lengths, spanning such a long period of time, have been forced upon the folks yet still there is no forensic audit or accounting anywhere for them to lay their concerns down upon and move forward. We reminded that our community is in their hands and the need to even have a 'safeplace' is appalling to us.

Yes, we applied a little bit of your pressure. That application was done with the highest interests of all in mind.

You did good! Your new board has some fine applicants.

...just sayin...

Current Watch: City of Glenwood Springs, Ordinance #12, Series of 2010 authorizing a city governed Tourism Promotion Board

On the 15th of July, 2010 the Glenwood Springs City Council approved Ordinance #12, Series of 2010.  Placing control over the largest public revenue base the citizens of the 81601 and 81602 zip codes have; back into the hands of the people.

smalltown7, privately thanked City Council after this unanimous vote. 

We also expressed our thanks at the obvious upbeat feeling shown by council at this meeting.  The energy and tone of knowing that a historic impact was being made by their vote, was noted.  Unified with an underlying current of hope and excitement; council moved Glenwood Springs forward.

smalltown7 then made a conscious choice, to stand down and let a community torn apart and somewhat shell shocked after the past year; begin the healing process.  That was a good choice. 

Also a very wise one, as it turned out. 

True to form, just as soon as one or two others, with tentative voices,  began to speak up and encourage individuals to sit the new board; they were viciously attacked in public print media.  Accused of everything from being false to conspiracy.  And worse, they were not protected by this local publication.

smalltown7 defended those voices in public.  In private, we have given them a safe haven to voice should they ever choose to do so again.  http://www.sandboxcomments.blogspot.com/  is now another SafePlaceBlog, launched last weekend.

It is noted, by smalltown7,  that  behind the scenes,  the excitement and creative plans for the new board seem to be thriving.  When the application comes out on August 2nd in the Current Council Packet (can be found at   www.ci.glenwood-springs.co.us/ , in the News In A Flash box and right under animated kayak guy); it goes in front of council for approval on the night of August 5th, 2010.  Schedule for appointments will be set that evening.  The application ready for immediate release to the public once approved.  We've been hearing a lot of names being dropped out there and are really pleased at the caliber of individual talent potential.

This is the people's board now.  Glenwood Springs can only thrive from this point forward.

It is also noted by smalltown7 that we have received seriously concerned mails and calls from citizens who would like to either publically support this board or sit this board,  and are beginning to again feel intimidated to do either.  We have passed our concern about this forward to council.

Our public statement about this unfortunate turn, is this:

Keep talking.  If you want to sit this board and feel you can bring something of worth to the table, then go get an application, fill it out and take it to council.  If you do not feel safe or experience any backlash from any source; take it to authorities, who are aware of the problem.

There's a lot of work to be done to pull us out of the hole we're in financially.  

smalltown7 notes that the City of Glenwood Springs has not posted sales tax revenues for either 1st or 2nd Quarter as of yet.  Tourism revenues remain down 30% from 2009 and are reported in now as down another 5.4% for a total of 35.4%.

Over one third of our accommodations tax needs to be recovered before we can even hope to begin to build again.

Budgets, immediate 2011 RFP to be crafted, issued and awarded, audit of resources owned, forensic audit of all monies to date.  Creative workshops for future goal setting.

And the list goes on.  This is an exciting opportunity for Glenwood Springs.

smalltown8 congratulates the City of Glenwood Springs and publically extends their thanks to City Council.

Many times now, we have tried to move on past the "Current Watch on the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association".

Each time, the energy of what we have been up against has not let us do that.  With  the city's hands on the wheel and fully alert; we feel we can finally move on to other Current Watches and other endeavors.

We've decided to change this site to simply "Safe Place to Whistleblow" in order to accommodate the wide variety of topics and needs being sent to us.

Until this board is seated and there is a good flow of movement with no more backlash to individuals, we'll keep this site as it is, for now.

That good flow should be in place by this Fall.

smalltown7 looks forward.

Current Watch: GSCRA: Local Newspaper Censors Citizens. Blocks Voices Since Creation of New Tourism Board Ordinance.

The Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association’s “Full Court Press” was exposed on Friday for an old but favored tactic.


One that is very familiar to locals. Especially former whistleblowers on the Chamber.



Censorship or blocking completely, of voices and the publically linking of articles, blogs and commentary elsewhere, that shares any information whatsoever that the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce does not see as favorable light on their organization.



Using the influence of long standing power and control, a dying era has resorted once again to manipulation and spin of the internet and media.

Glenwood Springs, Colorado is a fairly small town. Two grocery stores, one post office and only one parent newspaper that holds a monopoly on local town newspapers.

Glenwood Springs Post Independent, Aspen Times, Citizens Telegram, Summit Daily, Vail Daily,  GJ Free Press are all owned by Swift Communications, which serves a number of communities in California, Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. Corporate offices located in Carson City, Nevada.

We have only one independent and strong local newspaper that has been around for a long, long time that is not held by the monopoly of Swift Communications. The Aspen Daily Newsremains free from "corporate news media" and is owned by Dave Danforth.  Business offices located in Aspen, Colorado.

The differences between the two newspaper companies is easy to see.

Logistics level sees the Glenwood Post Independent filled with advertising in it’s print edition and SPAM filled pop ups in it’s online edition.

We also have “up valley” and “down valley” views of our newspapers. Over the years, politics in our corridor  has given strong class distinctions that distinguish between the two.  The Daily is read by “billionaires” and “workers” alike. The “ghetto elite/wannabe elite” surf between the two. A growing number of citizens making a rising and impressive surge into social and political scenes are none of the above and use the Daily as the grounding point and the Post for a quick skim to catch up on buzz.  The Post is the “down valley” for Swift. The Aspen Times is Swift’s “up valley” with both papers rarely in a war with each other over content as their content is the same. The Citizens Telegram, also owned by Swift, is the “real down” valley paper and is located in Rifle. Rebellious when it can to it’s parent and serves the seat of our big oil and gas industry.

For those not familiar with the demographics of our town, Glenwood Springs sits in the middle and is considered the gateway to three influential and powerful commodities: big oil and gas to the west, public owned Vail Ski Resort and private held Aspen Ski Company. From the Summit Daily to the Grand Junction Sentinel, our news is followed all over the world.

Politically, the Swift family is mostly blue but does once in awhile pander to the red, depending on which community it’s sitting in.

With the recession, folks cut back on the Post’s paid subscriptions and deliveries, instead picking it up free at newstands and walking the few blocks to do that. The Post and Times are larger in size and there are more pages.

Logistics level with the Aspen Daily, shows less advertising and the folks still pay for subscriptions. It’s also the favorite of the estimated hundreds of blue collar workers who come from “down valley” to “up valley” and most locals throughout. Also holding the earned claim of being the paper absent second and third home owners subscribe to by mail.

Politically, it’s hard to tell if the Aspen Daily News is blue or red.

On journalistic levels, locals know if they want to read the full story, they go to the Daily. To get the gossip or juicy spin, they go to the Post or the Times. The Daily is also a free paper as well and can be found not only at news stands but piles delivered to local businesses, such as professional offices where one has to wait to meet an appointment.

A “Good Morning” to another local hitting the newspaper stand at the same time, often holds a little eye contact and partial smile of knowing from each, as they nod politely and then reach for the symbols of what they support and believe in.

The shock waves running up and down “The Valley” each time whistleblowers come forward on the Chamber, has never been more palpable than the past 19 months, with an emphasis on the past 6 months.

Those courageous whistleblowers in the late ‘90's kept talking to locals throughout the years after being fired from the Chamber. Widely known now that the smalltown7 group are some of those locals.

More attention in all the local papers was visible in the 2005 era of whistleblowers on the Chamber. As a result, local workers and small businesses began connecting and watching for patterns.

In our era of whistleblowing, the no oversight and zero transparency on our public held funds that fuel the Tourism Marketing Contract has seen the Post’s completely over the top inflamed reporting and heavy standing bias,  in favor of the sole source vendor Chamber of Commerce.

A choice being starkly compared locally to zero coverage from The Aspen Daily News.

Openly admitting, at the July 1, 2010 City Council meeting, that she has an “unhappy....shocked...” Chamber Board of Directors pressuring her by “calling”; Marianne Virgili, President, CEO and Executive Director of the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association, has now aimed her Full Court Press to retain the tourism marketing contract at the current sitting Tourism Board and few remaining, yet powerful, community supporters and Chamber board members .

Openly admitting, at the July 1, 2010 City Council meeting, that she had been on the phone and gathering support, one of the more poignant moments of the evening for local viewers was a local hotel owner obviously rounded up at the last minute, lay her hand comfortingly on the shoulder of a Chamber employee as she stepped down from the podium.

Locals watching the subsequent series of three articles, in the Glenwood Post Independent as they covered this historic Council session, recognized “canned” press information released by the Chamber. They began to speak. Once again raising voices in protest. smalltown’s recent postings, here at a safe place to whistleblow on non profits,  were shared in online format of the Post and unfolded alongside those voices raised in protest.

Content has ranged from the now 12 year old cry of a “conspiracy” against the Chamber (to) our release again of commentary ability on this blog (to) the now wounded bellows and outcrys  of one or two offshoots, of the lion’s share holders, benefitting strongly in the past from no oversight in place.

Publically pounding the keyboards, locals have hit the forums all over the region and safeplace has continued to post. The result is a valley wide spread of awareness that whistleblowers and whispered words, for over a decade, have been dead on accurate.

This choice of caving to the pressure of advertisers and social power is a familiar one to locals where local media is concerned.

One of the patterns, of this decades old issue, began to develop in 2005 out of the Glenwood Springs Chamber of Commerce.  A now proven and verifiable online harassment and slander to whistleblowers, combined with a burst onto the web of glorification of the head of the Chamber.

A second pattern developed. Tom Jankovsky of Sunlight Ski Resort and Steve Beckley of Glenwood Caverns created the current Tourism Board. Then put that board under the power of the Chamber. A Chamber which has been the sole source award for tourism marketing for 22 years, with an estimated 14 to 18 million dollars flowing through it’s coffers during that time. The Chamber's immediate burst into Swift Communications media and onto the world wide web, in a quest to become a Destination Resort, filled the coffers of the City of Glenwood Springs Accommodations Tax. The strategy of that marketing campaign is blatantly obvious when one looks at the range of advertising and marketing coverage that it pays for. We did become a Destination Resort. The less than a handful of companies that benefit the most are called locally the “Lion’s” of our tourism sector. In the years since, small business that are offshoots supporting the infrastructure of the Tourism Lion's have resorted to developing their own marketing entities in order to attempt to keep pace and stay alive as they carry that weight. In the boom hit of this recession, no focus of change has come to our tourism marketing.  Our revenues in accommodations tax dropped 30% in 2009 and decreased another 5.4% to date in 2010.  Downtown small businesses closing rapidly, findings that our marketing vendor in the Chamber dipped the locals Tourism Grant Fund until it ran dry.  The pattern of continual climbing to the top while refusing to provide accountability and transparency to the citizens has grown stronger since 2005.

The sleeper in this story are the small voices of the whistleblowers. Behind the scenes, in the sub communities of our valley and region they kept talking and grew stronger.


Today, being so strong they have managed to give their voices of reason, fairness and balance a courageous physical presence.


One strong enough to bring the upcoming oversight to the largest and most influential public revenue base our region has in our Accommodations Tax.   Ordinance #12, Series of 2010, City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

 smalltown7 takes the win.

Another big change here at safeplace is our being picked up by politcally powerful non profit watch dog feeds.

http://www.safeplacetowhistleblowonnonprofits.blogspot.com/ is now approaching over 50,600 views.

smalltown7 keeps talking.